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Interested but uninformed

I have been fascinated by RC tanks for quite some time. I have come close to buying one a number of times.
I just cant seem to convince myself that I know enough to get what I want. The options and prices seem all over the place.
I would like to hear some opinions by other owners.
I like the 1/16 scale tanks that have good detail. I will just be running around by myself so battles are not important.
The idea of all metal or a good part of the tank metal appeals to me.
Cost is not all that important but my budget tops out at about $2,000.00

One thing that seems to be incorrect in the limited videos I have seen is that the tanks move too fast or accelerate to quickly.

With a budget like that, you could get most any 16th scale tank of any number of brand.

My opinion would be to get a Tamiya Full-Function. It is truly a model you build, has great detail and runs with radio and receiver you supply.

If you want to throw in an extra 500 to 1000 you could get a 'custom' all metal tank full functioning that are somewhat detailed like Chunwai (but not really in kit form, more RTR).

If you go all metal, with a moderate budget you mention, may as well go with Armortek, the elite builders. You build these from kit and choose options you want prices ranging from 3000-10000 depending on scale and options.

-Planes are cool but delicate and like a runway. In a mishap they could crash. They also like calm, sunny days.

-Cars are cool and fast. They can crash in to something if you lose control. They like paved areas and calm, sunny days. They can race other cars but need other r/c car competitors to compete with.

-Warships are cool but need a body of water close by. Not good on bad weather days.

-Trains are cool but need tracks laid. An area set just of them is preferred, mostly indoors.

-TANKS are powerful and slow and ready for any weather. Snow, wind, mud, rain, typhoons, etc. They make their OWN tracks on all terrain. They're ready to go when you are.

I've been driving my tanks on 'Lone Patrols' since 1991 and I totally enjoy it every time! I was driving my clutch drive tanks on Okinawa before 'battling' started and know I wouldn't be any good at that, I just like driving'em! I LOVE my tanks!

My advice, if you are just getting in to this hobby, get you a reliable tank that's easy to build and maintain. I would get a 1/16 Sherman to start out on. They're fun.

I'm not going to say which brand to get cause this post is about you, and I don't want to start a 'which brand is better' war. (But I like Tamiya!)

WOW quick reply.
Thanks some of these names I have not heard of. Chunwai looks interesting at a quick glance.
I can see that the product seems to be improving and I get confused about the different versions.

I may be a bit biased here but 1/16th scale is the place to be. Not too big, nor too small. Most of the battlers are 1/16th oriented and a lot of the aftermarket parts are focused towards this scale as well. For the price range you list you could buy a bunch of tanks
As for scale speeds that can easily be limited by using an aftermarket motherboard to initiate momentum and make starting slower as well. There are a people here with more mods than you know what to do with. These guys also have the knowledge and do not mind sharing as well as myself. If you just be a bit more specific in what you are asking for I bet you would be surprised by the results

Thanks Old
MSgt
For some crazy reason I seem to like Russian tanks. I design and build heavy machinery for the steel pipe industry.
We have a whole shop full of first generation Polish machinists. They like to build our equipment because they say "it is built like a Russian tank"
I guess it just hit a chord with me. But a Sherman is right up there in my mind.

Imex-Erik
I am following your thread on the T34

And by the way guys if I use the incorrect term or designation don't shoot me I am new to this type of detail.

I entered this hobby years ago from the static modeling world. My first was the Tamiya Sherman and then the Tiger I. I have since tried a few different manufacturers and modifications, but learning the systems from building the Tamiyas was the ideal way to go. Both are still running (well the Sherman is now a T-34 and Su-100) and are faithful working models.

Tamiya offers a few Russian tanks, all excellent runners. Yes they are kits, but in reality pretty much fall together with every nut, bolt and bit of tape needed in the box. I don't know your locale, but if you buy from a Japanese store, you also get the Tx/Rx and battery included.

They really are the best introduction to the hobby. You can try your hand at converting others down the line, but for a reliable, time tested winner, I'd stick with the industry standard.

Here's a bit of JS-2, shipped to NY from Japan in 2 days for under $900 (including the radio):

J/M, Hi, There are a lot of us wish we had access to $2000+, I am now going to go against the advise I would usually offer, Because this hobby is new to you, spending that kind of money on a TAMIYA 1/16 r/c Tank only to discover you don't really like it after all would be a waste of a lot of money and that's why I would point you to a TAIGEN/TORRO T34 from IMEX-ERIK that way you learn all about this hobby and if you like it I feel certain that IMEX-ERIC will gladly sell you more Tanks, whatever you decide this is as addictive as chrystal meth only difference this costs more take care, shaun

One thing that seems to be incorrect in the limited videos I have seen is that the tanks move too fast or accelerate to quickly.

Most of what you see are either driver error, or that the tank is set up incorrectly or you are witnessing a battle where they drive them like a video game and could care less if it looks or acts authentic.

I won't discuss whether brand A or brand B is better. Buy what you like and have fun with it but eventually you will not stop at one tank.

LOL!!!! ("HERE WE GO") I KNEW the INSTANT I saw this question asked on here that it WOULD turn in to a debate on BRANDS of r/c tanks.

I think all that Shaun is saying is that (at least in the UK) you can buy a 700 GBP Tamiya kit, build it and give it an OK paint job, and it will fetch maybe 300 to 350 on a good day, sometimes less. You can buy a 100 GBP Heng Long, paint and decorate it to a similar standard, and you can find somebody on Ebay willing to pay 150 to 200!

With a budget like that and your nod to Russian tanks, I would get the Tamiya JS2. For better control you can slap in a turnigy chip that plugs in between your ESC and reciever. This will add momentum and stop the sports car look that some tanks have.

It will have a good resale price if you choose this is not for you. Not sure what you level of RC experience is, but the one thing that should not be overlooked is the great instructions Tamiya has with their tanks. Because you have to build it you are forced to understand it. Sometimes for a new guy that build experiecne is going to get you through the hurdles, and stay with you when you tackle other brands.

The original poster is asking opinions on RC tanks and proposes a budget that he is comfortable with that includes vitually every option in 1/16.

How can anyone be of help without naming brands?

I understand theres the time honored debate over which is worth what, but seriously, an owner can express their opinion with reigniting old debates.

The best introduction to this or any hobby is first by trying something out firsthand, by visiting a club, etc. and if that's not possible, at least entering with something that's reliable and will be enjoyable, not a source of frustration. I stand by recommendation of Tamiya, that doesn't mean others aren't good. It'll work, has warranties, needs no upgrades to be a great runner and if the hobby isn't fun, the resell value is high. That cannot be said about a majority of the other options.

So the 'resale' value is something we should all be closely considering when we purchase our first r/c tank?

And if I was initially thinking about getting in to the r/c tank hobby, I should make my FIRST choice as a lower priced r/c tank kit that I could build and quickly sell later for a higher resale? And not get a tank that I may build and own and enjoy for the rest of my life? Just wondering.

This is the FIRST purchase of an r/c tank by a very interested, obviously very educated man who is curious about r/c tanks and we should advise him to purchase a tank that is 'resalable'?

I guess it may be advisable to tell him to go with a rubber tracked twenty dollar tank. That WILL sour an mechanical engineer on this 'r/c tank' hobby. He should get a well engineered tank for his first one. IMO

This man is a 'BRAIN' on mechanical engineering. And if he don't like his first well engineered tank he can sell it for only a few dollars (or pounds) lost.

Mike

And I always just read the 'wars' on here and laugh and danged if I ain't landed in the middle of one! I'll just keep my BIG YAP shut on this from now on.

If you were looking at my brushless tank, please ignore that thread. That was just a fun project to drift in the warehouse and possibly take to the track to have a few laughs. I do a lot of crazy mods like making 13" boats do 50+ mph or building quadcopters with enough speed to race some rc cars

-Planes are cool but delicate and like a runway. In a mishap they could crash. They also like calm, sunny days.

-Cars are cool and fast. They can crash in to something if you lose control. They like paved areas and calm, sunny days. They can race other cars but need other r/c car competitors to compete with.

-Warships are cool but need a body of water close by. Not good on bad weather days.

-Trains are cool but need tracks laid. An area set just of them is preferred, mostly indoors.

-TANKS are powerful and slow and ready for any weather. Snow, wind, mud, rain, typhoons, etc. They make their OWN tracks on all terrain. They're ready to go when you are.

I've been driving my tanks on 'Lone Patrols' since 1991 and I totally enjoy it every time! I was driving my clutch drive tanks on Okinawa before 'battling' started and know I wouldn't be any good at that, I just like driving'em! I LOVE my tanks!

My advice, if you are just getting in to this hobby, get you a reliable tank that's easy to build and maintain. I would get a 1/16 Sherman to start out on. They're fun.

I'm not going to say which brand to get cause this post is about you, and I don't want to start a 'which brand is better' war. (But I like Tamiya!)

So the 'resale' value is something we should all be closely considering when we purchase our first r/c tank?

And if I was initially thinking about getting in to the r/c tank hobby, I should make my FIRST choice as a lower priced r/c tank kit that I could build and quickly sell later for a higher resale? And not get a tank that I may build and own and enjoy for the rest of my life? Just wondering.

This is the FIRST purchase of an r/c tank by a very interested, obviously very educated man who is curious about r/c tanks and we should advise him to purchase a tank that is 'resalable'?

I guess it may be advisable to tell him to go with a rubber tracked twenty dollar tank. That WILL sour an mechanical engineer on this 'r/c tank' hobby. He should get a well engineered tank for his first one. IMO

This man is a 'BRAIN' on mechanical engineering. And if he don't like his first well engineered tank he can sell it for only a few dollars (or pounds) lost.

Mike

And I always just read the 'wars' on here and laugh and danged if I ain't landed in the middle of one! I'll just keep my BIG YAP shut on this from now on.

This isn't even a dust up yet. Wait until the words, "cheap toy" come out. Then its, "Katy bar the door time"

I scratch build a lot and modify everything I battle with. I do like the reliability of the Tamyia tanks, but I also like the features and size of the Clark boards. My 2 cents is to buy a high end Tamyia kit, learn what makes them tick by building it, and then take it to a club meet somewhere and battle it. If you want to run a tank or battle one before you buy, come to Danville on the 19 - 21 of September and you can use one of mine to see if you like it or not. That is the best deal and advice I can give you.

With $2000 you can go all out. As YHR said above the new Tamiya IS-2/JS-2 is a really big, mean looking tank kit and would fit the bill.

1/16 is a versatile scale as you can get really detailed paint jobs, and don't need a trailer to haul it around!

Johnnymike what's your r/c experience like? If you already have or are familiar with the slightly more advanced 4+ channel radios you can dive right into this hobby and fine tune driving characteristics. Whatever you decide on there are plenty of options to get exactly what you want.

Just a personal thing, I don't really like the FULL metal tanks. They're unnecessarily heavy & harder to work on, especially for adding damage, or modifying.

Where'd you get a JS-2 at that price with shipping? That's the lowest I've seen that go for.

Actually, it was more like $840 with shipping. Banzai Hobby. They're the only Japanese store that sells these online. The price fluctuates with exchange rate and is in yen so your payment method may tack on a fee. I think Paypal added something like 4%.

Shipping was $94, but it was 2 days and fully tracked. When you consider that the Attack Tx/Rx is worth about $150, it's an easy decision. For some reason, the older Tamiya have higher shipping (they claim they're heavier) and the prices are more in line with AAF. On the Panther, the museum was roughly the same price and I didn't need another radio sitting around so I went with them.

Thanks for all the insight. I don't mind hearing that there can be a preference for on style or manufacturer. To me this helps
round my education on the subject. There is a lot of good incite here and advice I wanted to receive.
Thank you all for the time you took to reply. I am know much more knowledgeable which is what I was hoping for.